April A to Z Challenge: Y

Sam was heading down the stairs of Aunt Andi’s house when the arrived at the landing and stopped in her tracks. Hanging on the wall at the landing was a quilt. She must have passed the quilt a dozen times already on her way up and down and not really noticed it. But this morning it commanded her full attention and she could not take her eyes off of it.

The quilt was made in shades of yellow. Slender and curving swaths of of bright color stretched out to the edges of the quilt from the dark yellow center, creating an off-center and asymmetrical shape that seemed almost alive. The center shape was echoed by curving lines darting through the quilt on all sides. Sam knew almost nothing about quilts, but knew enough to recognize it as a beautiful piece of craftsmanship and very modern in design.

Andi emerged from the hallway below and came up the stairs, meeting Sam on the landing. She paused there, turning her attention to the quilt as well.

“Where did you get this?” Sam said.

“Your great grandmother made it. It’s quite old.”

“My great grandmother?” Sam said, reaching forward to touch it, but then stopping just shy. It seemed wrong to touch something so old. So precious.

“It doesn’t look old,” Sam said, thinking of the traditional quilts she had seen on display in the museum they’d taken a field trip to in 6th grade. They looked nothing like this.

“She was ahead of her time in terms of the design,” Andi said. “Amazing, isn’t it?” Andi continued up the stairs, pausing at the top to look back at Sam, still on the landing. She smiled, a tiny smile, and nodded to herself, and then disappeared into her bedroom.

Sam, who had missed Andi’s smile and nod, was still staring at the quilt. The dynamic yellow shapes and lines riveted her to this spot. She could not look away. Sam thought about the odd threads of light she had seen coming from the writer in her beach cottage. The flashes she’d seen coming from Dale’s pottery wheel. The glow coming from the strange painting in the abandoned barn’s loft. Her great grandmother, somehow, had captured this light and depicted it in the pieced top of this old quilt. There could be no mistaking it. Her great grandmother must have seen what she was seeing.

I've challenged myself to create a writing prompt and write a short response to it each day of April as part of the A to Z blogging challenge. Read more about the A to Z blogging challenge here. Thanks for reading!